Branch combinations: six harmony, three harmony, seasonal and bridged combinations

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), the earthly branches combine in four ways: a six harmony binds two branches as a pair, a three harmony binds three branches into one element, a seasonal combination gathers the three branches of one season, and a bridged combination binds two members of a three harmony whose third is absent. A combination found in a chart may still fail to hold, because of distance, a clash on one of its members, or what it binds.

Neighbors and friends

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) sorts the gatherings of branches into two kinds: two branches facing each other combine like neighbors, and three branches from three directions meet like friends.

The book’s group of three here means sets like the Monkey, Rat and Dragon. Common usage calls that kind a three harmony, and calls three branches of one direction, like the Tiger, Rabbit and Dragon, a seasonal combination. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) divides them this way, and so does this series.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations

Six harmony

The twelve branches form six pairs: Rat and Ox, Tiger and Pig, Rabbit and Dog, Dragon and Rooster, Snake and Monkey, Horse and Goat.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping traces them to the sun’s course through the sky and the sequence of the month branches, which run in opposite directions; where the two meet, a pair combines. Like close neighbors, the two branches of a six harmony have their energies drawn together.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations

Three harmony

A three harmony forms on three stages of one element: birth, peak and stored. Wood is born in the Pig, peaks in the Rabbit and is stored in the Goat, so the Pig, Rabbit and Goat combine into Wood.

The middle member of each is a cardinal branch, the Rat, Horse, Rabbit or Rooster, where the element peaks, and the three harmony centers on it. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says the combination is complete only with all three branches. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) says three branches together carry one energy from start to finish, with great force.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Seasonal Combinations and Three Harmonies

Seasonal combination

A seasonal combination gathers the three branches of one direction and one season:

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated says it forms only with all three branches, and then outweighs the three harmony of the same element; two of the three are not taken as a seasonal combination.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Seasonal Combinations and Three Harmonies

Bridged combination

When one member of a three harmony is missing, the other two may still combine: this is a bridged combination. The test is the cardinal branch. A pair that includes its group’s Rat, Horse, Rabbit or Rooster combines; a pair without it does not combine on its own.

A pair without its cardinal branch still leans toward combining, Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says, but needs another character to complete it. One is a stem of the same element: with the Tiger and Dog below and Yang or Yin Fire on the stems, the Fire stands in for the Horse; with the Monkey and Dragon below and Yang or Yin Water on the stems, the Water stands in for the Rat. The other is the branch where the element reaches its arrival stage: the Tiger and Dog with a Snake, or the Monkey and Dragon with a Pig, since the Snake and the Pig stand one step before the Horse and the Rat. Metal and Wood work the same way.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations

When all three branches are present, it is a full three harmony and is not counted again as bridged pairs.

A combination that may not hold

A combination found in a chart still has to hold. The books name three checks.

Distance. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated says two branches that form a group, as in a bridged combination, work best side by side. If another character separates them, or they stand far apart, the combination is weak, and it needs a stem of the same element to lead it out before it can serve.

Clash. The same chapter says a combination fears a clash above all. With the Pig, Rabbit and Goat, a Rooster in their midst and right beside the Rabbit breaks the Wood combination. A clashing branch inside the group but not beside its target, or beside it but outside the group, damages the combination. A combination of only two branches breaks when clashed.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Seasonal Combinations and Three Harmonies

Fit. Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) says:

合有宜不宜，合多不为奇。

Our translation: A combination may fit or may not; many combinations are nothing to prize.

The original notes to Dripping Heavenly Marrow sort combinations into fitting and unfitting. A fitting combination supports an element the chart favors, binds away one it does not, or calms a clash: the Rat and Horse clash, and an Ox combining with the Rat settles it. An unfitting one supports an unfavorable element or ties up a favorable one. Too many combinations keep the energy from flowing, so even a chart with refinement and talent cannot show them.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Combinations, original notes

So a combination is not good or bad in itself; what counts is what it binds and what it supports. Binding is also not the same as changing element: a branch combination acts more clearly when a stem of its element shows above it. How a combination bears on the month’s structure comes in a later lesson on structures.

Try it on your chart

1. Write your four branches in a row: year, month, day, hour.
2. Look for the six harmony pairs: Rat and Ox, Tiger and Pig, Rabbit and Dog, Dragon and Rooster, Snake and Monkey, Horse and Goat. Note which two positions each one takes.
3. Look for three harmonies and seasonal combinations: are all three branches present?
4. Look for bridged combinations: two members of one three harmony, the third absent. If the pair includes the Rat, Horse, Rabbit or Rooster, note it. If not, look for a stem of the same element, or a Snake or Pig as above.
5. Beside each combination, note whether its members stand side by side, whether a branch clashing one of them stands right beside it, and whether a stem of its element leads it out.
6. Do not judge yet. Whether a combination binds something your chart welcomes or does not want is for after strength and structure; how clashes and combinations resolve each other has its own lesson.

See also: Stem combinations and stem clashes

See also: Branch clashes, punishments, harms and destruction

See also: How combinations and clashes resolve each other

See also: Combined structures, overlay structures and “transforms into”